Road Trip Update

It's Saturday morning and I'm taking advantage of some internet access provided by the Marriott Courtyard in beautiful Oxnard California.

The trip gas has gone without a hitch to this point. I picked up the minivan at noon yesterday. And while I was downloading instructions for removing the back seat, Eth and David had taken it out, so we were good to go. We loaded up the car and were on the road by 2:00 pm.

Surprisingly, there was no traffic headed north and we made it to Irvine with plenty of time to do some birthday shopping for Amanda. That done we headed to the Irvine Clarks for a family get-together and birthday fiesta. The barbecue dinner and strawberry trifle were awesome. With bellies full we hit the road for Sunset Blvd. and a Ben Kweller set.

Traffic was an issue as we neared Los Angeles. But, we arrived a little after 9:00 pm in area that I guess I could describe as not LA's finest, found a parking spot, and then got a little lost looking for the venue. The venue was a bit of a dive and was packed with LA scenesters ( Carly's term). Kweller came on about 10 minutes later.

Ben Kweller comes very close to being a bubblegum popstar, but just when he gets a bit cheesy he breaks out a clever lyric or a rockin guitar riff. He performs with a joyful energy that is infectious. The crowd was into it singing along with most of the songs. The set wrapped up before 11:00 and off we went up the 101 for beautiful Oxnard arriving before midnight.

Well, the girls say we're ready to roll. On to San Luis Obispo.